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The Informant!

Date: Oct 07 2009

Themes: News, Work

Grammar: Third Conditional

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Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Snitch. Rat. Tattletale. In English, we have several different slang terms for a person who tells on someone else, and almost all of them are negative. But without the help of snitches, rats, and tattletales, the police would have a much harder time catching criminals, crooks, and bad guys.

In the new movie The Informant!, Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre, an ordinary guy who finds out that the company he works for is breaking the law. He decides to blow the whistle on his company by working as a spy for the FBI. Find out if Marni and Devan think Whitacre acted like a hero or a rat.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Devan

Marni: So Devan, have you seen that new movie The Informant!?

Devan: No, but I saw a preview for it. It’s like a white collar crime type film, right?

Marni: Well, it’s based on a true story, and Matt Damon plays this character where he is spying for the FBI against his own company that he works for.

Devan: Oh, OK. So he’s going undercover with like a wire, or…

Marni: Yeah, exactly. He’s playing both sides, you know, he’s working for this company but really he’s telling the FBI everything that’s happening. It just gets crazy as you can imagine. All kinds of conflicts of interest. I actually left the film, and I started thinking about could I do that? Could I spy against my own company? What do you think?

Devan: Well my last job was so crappy, I definitely would’ve spied on them if the FBI had asked me to.

Grammar Point

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Discussion

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Marni recently saw The Informant!. In the movie, Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre, a man who works for a big corporation that is engaging in white collar crime. Whitacre decides to betray his company by spying for the FBI. He wears a wire and gathers top secret information about the crimes people in his company are committing.

After seeing the movie, Marni started wondering if she could ever spy on a company she worked for. Devan hated her last job so much that she says she definitely would have spied on them.

Would you ever spy on your company? If you knew that a close friend of yours had committed a crime, would you tell the police?

Comments

chloe001

United States

well i watched this movie.. But rather than movies i like to watch Crime series. Hey has any one of you watch Bones episodes? well guys this is an amazing show i love to watch it. Its every episode is full of mystery. And now i am very much excited for the upcoming Bones season 6 episode 14 that gonna air with in two days.

Stitch

Taiwan

I just watched this movie, and I think it's very funny! I liked it!

Shinichi Lover

Bahrain

What a hard situation!, there are many ways to solve the problem before going to spy.. first I can talk with my friend and try to do something to show him the real situation, but if that doesn't work I will spy .. coz at the end the Law is Law !.. if I didn't spy .. there are some other persons would have to spy !

Romio79

Russian Federation

No.

Marcelo Brazil

Brazil

Im cop in my country and sometimes i need to work with rats, snicths to discovery the crime

Pedro Chung

Peru

I didn´t see that movie, but some years ago many people in Peru works with the government to fight against the drugs, entered undercover inside the firms and destroyed that type of organization, there was a lot of situations that can be a book.

Denny500

Australia

Would FBI kill you if you failed you job like what happening in some movies?

aleitd

Mexico

If the FBI had asked me to spy on my company I think that I wouldnt have a choice.

koxa

Ukraine

I would spy on some company if I were a spy…but when you work there as employee and then spy on because of some troubles with management it's meanness….I think you're becoming like a rat….if you don't like what you do or relationship with co-workers and senior management you have to go away from there..

MmLLoO

Germany

I guess I would resign from my job and tell it to the police as an anonymous caller…

fabsir

Brazil

I don´t think I would inform the police on the company I work for. I would feel uncomfotable about being part of that company though. Spying against my own company is out of question as well, in that I could get caught and have my life in jeopardy or threatened. Actually not only me but my whole family or the ones I care for.

noguti

Brazil

Well…it's a difficult situation to cope with, isn't it? Actually, if some of my closest friends commit a crime, I wouldn't tell the police, but I would have a talk to him and give him some advices instead. Kind of a chance! Before this, we also have to take a look at his situation: what lead him to do that? Sometimes, it's not his fault, he's just a victim.

rosendo

Mexico

a world is watching us !!!

saludos.

amiira007

Tunisia

spying is freakin danger job sometimes many spy can be kill if they catch them

arcana

Italy

In Italy doesn't exist FBI ! And I guess FBI can be corrupt also!

tobossh

China

No, I didn't spy on my company though i worked in the finacial dep. for a month which is considered as the most secret dep and many secret data can be got from and i do not like my present company yet. If my close friend had committed a crime, i would jude the enviroment whether his conduct is under the tolerable scope or not. I mean i will put myself in that condition and see what i would do then. If i do as he/she did or worse, i will not tell the police. Otherelse i will tell the police.

veniceboy

Italy

is it nice this film? I was wondering if going or not at the cinema to watching it!

fedorame

China

I suppose I hate to be a rat, of course just for my best friends.But finally I will,because I don't wanna see something go down out of control.It is good for them I think. To the company or the people who do commit crimes, I will have no hesitation to blow the whistle, and tell on them.It should be responsibility of me, as a honest citizen, to give all the criminals the just desserts.